


the night air, the autumn flowers, and you

by oceanterminal



Category: BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Growing Up, Halloween, hurt/comfort?, light mentions of drinking but moca is probably joking, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-24 01:07:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17091203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oceanterminal/pseuds/oceanterminal
Summary: Maybe they're getting a little too old for Halloween parties.





	the night air, the autumn flowers, and you

**Author's Note:**

> this was my piece for the bandori hallozine!!! I hope yall enjoy it nwn

Ran’s sitting out on the engawa, somewhere a little way away from the humdrum of the party and everything that comes with it – costumery, fangs and wings and dark magic and all the mystery of the night. All Hallow’s Eve, or whatever it was called. Moca doesn’t know what to make of it. At least Ran got dressed up this year, even if it was just a half-baked vampire costume. Fake teeth and a bit of a fake blood, and there she goes. One step closer to celebrating the scariest night of the year.

Moca’s dressed as a three-headed dog – Cerberus, Tsugumi informed her was the correct name – but her papier-mâché dog heads have long since fallen off of her shoulders. She’s just a regular dog now.

“Ran~” Moca calls, cupping her hands around her mouth like Ran’s not a metre away, “You’re missing out on all the fun.”

She’s hunched over a little, and doesn’t turn around when she hears Moca’s voice. Not that Moca really knows if she’s listening at all. Maybe she’s deep in thought again. Maybe she’s just appreciating the cooling autumn air, and the stars shining in the sky. Maybe she’s staring out at the garden, full of flowers that mean things. Moca doesn’t know them like Ran does, but she can pick out a few. Red roses, for love. White roses, for innocence. Sakura for kindness. Red, white, pink.

Ran’s shoulders sink a little lower, and a frown presses at Moca’s lips like an anchor weighs at her heart. She knows that small gesture better than anyone else.

“Not really,” Ran says, still looking out at the garden. It’s true. She’s close enough to the party that she can still hear Tomoe standing on the table and yelling at the top of her lungs. If she closes her eyes, she can imagine Tsugumi bustling around the place, making sure everyone’s okay. Himari will be…being Himari.

There’s a quiet moment, when the noise from inside balks for a bit, and Moca sits down beside Ran, close enough to reach but not touching, not quite. They do this every year – someone hosts a Halloween party, just for the five of them, and at some point during the night Ran wanders away from everyone, and it’s Moca’s job to find her and figure out what’s wrong and make up the right words until Ran is not-quite-smiling again and they can go back and stop Himari from breaking another window. Except this time, it’s at Ran’s house, and she’s sitting outside amongst the flowers, and Moca’s not quite sure if that means something or not. Ran and flowers have always had a tenuous relationship.

“Mm, I guess~” Moca says, carefully, “The others might miss you, though~”

She’s not quite sure where to tread, or what’s on Ran’s mind, not entirely. Not something trivial, that’s for sure. Ran doesn’t respond, instead folds her hands into each other and gnaws at her lip with a despondent expression on her face.

Moca wants to reach out an arm and pull her into a hug, but not yet, not yet.

The silence continues, for far longer than she’s comfortable with, but it’s what Ran wants, so Moca will endure it if she has to.

“Aren’t we,” Ran’s voice comes soft, thick in her throat, like she’s had to force the words from her chest, “getting a little too old for this?”

Ran’s eyes are shining softly in the moonlight, crimson like the roses in the garden. They waver with all the intensity and terror of a single flower in a storm, weathering it bravely as it could. She’s not shaking because she’s cold, Moca notes. Probably not.

“But Halloween parties are fun~”

Her voice doesn’t betray the soft fear blossoming in her chest. Ran’s right. They are getting older – only five more months till they graduate and then they’re off into the scary world of university. They have entrance exams to think about – futures to decide. It’s come far, far too soon. None of them are ready, not really.

It’s probably been on Ran’s mind, recently – she’s always been far too serious for her own good, and far too sensitive. She’s worried, and worse still, Moca can’t comfort her in all the ways she wants to. Those fears are real. Maybe the others will leave. Maybe they’ll all grow older and forget about each other, and Ran and Moca will be stuck at home, the same people they’ve always been. Maybe they’ll never grow and change.

Maybe they’ll get left behind.

Maybe they’re a little too old for Halloween parties.

“Mm,” Ran says, like she’s confirming everything Moca’s been thinking, and Moca doesn’t really have a response to that. She has to find one, though. The spirit of Halloween and Ran’s fragile heart depend on it, or something.

“We won’t go anywhere, you know,” Moca says, and those aren’t words she can really have faith in herself, because who knows where they’ll all be in a few year’s time? Tsugu will stay with the cafe unless university takes her far away, and maybe Tomoe would stay, unless taiko brings her elsewhere, and Himari – well, Afterglow would be the only thing that could ever keep Himari in one place. Once, Moca had a dream about Himari driving a convertible across a desert road in some foreign country. It was funny at the time, imagining her with cool sunglasses and pierced ears, but now that they’re just a little bit closer to that graduation point it feel a lot less funny and a lot more scary.

“You don’t know that,” Ran says, calling her out immediately. It’s true; Moca doesn’t. None of them do. That’s the worst thing about the future – none of them know what’s going to happen. Maybe they’ll all be the same people in five year’s time. Or maybe they’ll all be terribly different and not even friends – no, Moca doesn’t like that timeline. Not at all.

“I don’t,” Moca admits, voice trailing softly between them, fading away into the night air like wisps of smoke. It feels strange, for her chest to be this tight. “But I’m not gonna go anywhere, at least.”

Ran’s hand searches on the wood as she looks away, and Moca waits patiently until Ran brushes against her palms, and then gently interlocks their fingers.

“After all, what if I move to Tokyo and there’s no good bakery? I just have to stay here, the Yamabukis have never done me wrong—”

Ran squeezes firmly on Moca’s hand, and Moca shuts her mouth.

Even though she’s still looking away, their fingers are still interlinked. Ran’s not mad, not really. Moca is just too funny for a situation like this, that’s all. Ran can’t handle her level of humour.

Or something. Maybe she really did go overboard this time.

“You really won’t go?” Ran’s voice rings clear into the moonlight, soft in the moonlight as pretty crimson fixates on Moca’s dull blue. Her hand is being squeezed again.

“Mm,” she says, and inches a little closer, just enough so that their shoulders brush. Ran leans into her, abandoning any concept of personal space for a moment. “I won’t.”

They savour the moment, quiet and still amongst the roses, the camellias, the sakura, and the freesias.

The night air might be still, though, but there’s a party going on behind them, and papier-mâché dog heads to stick back to Moca’s shoulders. She stands up after what feels like an appropriate amount of time for Ran to be soft, stretches a little, then extends her hand down.

“Tomo-chin is probably waiting for us,” Moca muses, scratching her chin, “she said something about beer pong…”

“Beer pong!? But we’re _minors_ ,” Ran panics, leaping to her feet and dashing back inside, “Dad will kill me if he finds outs – “

Ran tugs her back towards the house, away from the chill, still air of the night. That’s fine with her. If Ran wants to lead her somewhere, then Moca supposes she has nothing else to do but follow along.

They’re best friends, after all. Even if everything changes, they’ll still have that.


End file.
